Tracing the Land’s First Stories: UWG Event Revisits Muscogee Legacy in Region Share this page
As the region marks 200 years since the forced removal of the Muscogee people, an upcoming event hosted by the University of West Georgia will center Indigenous voices and lived experiences, highlighting a history that is not only remembered, but is still unfolding.
“Muscogee Ancestral Lands in West Georgia: A Public Humanities Event” will take place on Wednesday, April 29, in Ingram Library. Scholars and Muscogee community members will come together to illuminate the region’s Indigenous history and lasting legacy through stories, maps and voices that connect past to present. Registration is available online.
“This event will serve as an impactful platform for engaging residents of the region and state with the primary goal of the research project: to generate an appreciation and critical understanding of this region’s Indigenous past as well as the enduring ties of the present-day Muscogee Nation and its people to their ancestral homelands,” said Dr. Patrick Erben, professor of English and organizer of the event. “The indispensable perspective of the Muscogee people is not only facilitated through the direct tribal collaboration but also through the collection of oral traditions and tribal memories.”
Support for the event comes from a grant Erben received from Georgia Humanities, along with contributions from the UWG School of Humanities; School of Social Sciences; the Dr. James ‘Earl’ Perry College of Mathematics, Computing and Sciences; and Ingram Library. In addition to Erben, the research team comprises an interdisciplinary group of researchers, including Dr. Andrew Ivester of Earth and environmental sciences, Dr. Nathan Lawres of anthropology and Dr. Gary VanValen of history.
The event is free and open to the public and will feature initial results of a research collaboration between an interdisciplinary team of university faculty and several representatives of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation (MCN), including former Principal Chief James Floyd, his wife Carol Floyd, and MCN’s official oral historian, Midge Dellinger, who will all present their work.
“As the nation celebrates its semiquincentennial this year, the West Georgia region also marks the 200-year anniversary of the founding of both Carroll and Coweta Counties, which are UWG’s current campus seats,” Erben observed. “However, the formation of these counties was made possible by the forced removal of the Muscogee people from their ancestral lands.”
The expulsion of the tribe, Erben explained, was marked by two events paving the way for European American settlement: the contested and ultimately revoked 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs and the subsequent killing of Chief William McIntosh by Muscogee people opposed to this treaty.
“While McIntosh is a household name for many inhabitants of West Georgia today, his life and complicated legacy as well as the intertwined nature of Native American removal are poorly understood,” Erben acknowledged. “As a result, residents lack the knowledge necessary to honor the land on which they live as the ancestral home of the Muscogee people. A significant amount of research and amateur history exists, but much of it is either inaccessible or riddled with speculations, misleading information and even outright bias.”
The event runs from 3-8 p.m., and attendees can stay throughout the day or for certain sessions. The schedule is as follows:
- 3-3:15 p.m. Welcome and overview of the program
- 3:15-4:30 p.m. Screening of the film “Winiko: Reunions.” Moderated by James Floyd, former MCN principal chief, and Midge Dellinger, oral historian, MCN Historic and Cultural Preservation Department
- 4:30-5:30 p.m. Special Collections Open House
- 5-6 p.m. Reception
- 6-8 p.m. Main project presentations featuring a special reading by Rosemary McCombs Maxey, College of the Muscogee Nation, from her new novel “Papa’s Pills”
Erben said at this event, audience members can interact with researchers, discuss the significance of the information to their own lives and communities, and become invested in understanding “the ever-relevant impact of the past on the present and future.”
“We hope it instills a desire to understand difficult elements of the past in a way that opens productive conversations in the present,” he concluded. “In addition, we hope it imparts a greater understanding between contemporary residents of West Georgia and the Muscogee (Creek) people, whose connection to their ancestral land can help foster an ethos of care for a place and region undergoing tremendous change.”